Home insurance rate transparency needed as extreme weather costs rise: complaint

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This article was published 03/07/2025 (427 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO – Ontario’s financial services regulator should be more active on the issue of rising home insurance rates because of extreme weather, says a complaint filed Thursday.  

The submission by an advocacy group to the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA) says the rising frequency of floods and wildfires because of climate change is pushing rates towards unaffordable levels — and cutting some homeowners off entirely — and the regulator should be looking more into the concerning trend.  

“What we’re asking for, first and foremost, is just for FSRA to look at this issue, and investigate it,” said Kiera Taylor, senior policy analyst at the advocacy group Investors for Paris Compliance (I4PC).

“At a minimum, we want FSRA to consider public disclosure of rate changes like they do with auto insurance, so there’s increased transparency.”

The regulator, whose mandate includes upholding fair treatment of insurance customers, provides insights on the auto insurance side through disclosure and analysis on what’s leading rates higher, but does nothing comparable on the home insurance side, said I4PC.

The lack of transparency comes despite Ontario home insurance rates climbing 84 per cent between 2014 and 2024, according to analysis by My Choice Financial Inc., while for Canada as a whole rates climbed 76 per cent in the decade. These gains were despite Statistics Canada data showing inflation of 28 per cent over the period.

“It’s really in FSRA’s mandate to investigate this, and they just aren’t,” said Taylor.

The regulator didn’t immediately provide a response, but it’s not an issue limited to Ontario. Regulators across the country should be looking into the trend, Taylor said, though I4PC chose to start with Ontario because it’s the largest housing market and many in the Toronto area were hit with flooding just last year.

The province does also have some of the most concentrated flood risks in the country, according to a 2022 report from the Task Force on Flood Insurance and Relocation. 

The report put the total flood risk per year in Canada at $3 billion, with one per cent of properties making up a third of the potential costs. Ontario has the highest share of those riskiest one per cent, just ahead of Quebec, the report said. 

It highlighted how flood insurance is already too expensive for many Canadians, costing at times $10,000 to $15,000 to add flood protection, if it’s available at all. Meanwhile most consumers aren’t even aware they may need the added insurance, with 94 per cent of Canadians living in high-risk areas unaware that they are, said the report.

The lack of information on the risks means regulators should be pushing more to have flood risk maps made public, said Taylor. She also wants to see insurers investigated over what the group alleges is a conflict of interest between their investments in fossil fuel companies and their commitments on climate change.

The insurance industry itself has been sounding the alarm on the trends of rising costs and rates. 

In January, the Insurance Bureau of Canada said there was $8.5 billion in insured damage caused by severe weather, the highest ever, and some 42 per cent higher than the previous record set in 2016. It warned that the rising frequency and severity of weather-related losses continues to create claims cost pressure that will, in turn, affect the cost of buying insurance.

It said that since 2019, Canada has seen a 115 per cent increase in the number of claims for personal property damage and a 485 per cent increase in the costs for repairing and replacing personal property.

“Canada is clearly becoming a riskier place to live, work and insure,” said Craig Stewart, vice-president of climate change and federal issues at IBC, in a statement at the time. 

The industry has been pushing government to do more on flood and fire mitigation efforts and updating building codes, but it has also been advocating for a national flood insurance program to take on the riskiest homes. 

Investors for Paris Compliance wants FSRA to look into the push for a flood insurance program, and whether it’s industry trying to off-load risk onto the public, among the other rate concerns.

Given all the issues at play, it’s high time regulators become more active on the file, said Taylor.

“This issue isn’t going to go away,” she said.

“Open-ended rate increases and reduced coverage isn’t a temporary thing, and whether the regulator looks at this now or later, it’s going to demand a response.’

 This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 3, 2025.